A vain attempt to document my adventures as I construct a MAME arcade machine using only my bare hands and things that my hands can use

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Stage 2: Build or Pillage?

The next big step was to actually construct a cabinet in which to mount these great controls. I wanted something that looked nice, a true upright arcade box that would become the centerpiece of my living room (a function currently occupied by the hideousness that is my fireplace mantle).

But herein lay a choice: rely on my untested carpentry skills, buy an outrageously expensive prefabricated cabinet or hunt down an old arcade machine and gut it out.

Pricing the costs of building materials, tools and psychological counselling after what would be a guaranteed loss of limb at my own hands, I decided the building option was right out.

Pricing the prefabricated cabinets was equally fraught with horror. The shipping alone was going to put this project waaaaay into the red.

So that left me with trying to track down a cabinet in town. I know there are/were arcades in this city, so those games and their tantalizing cabinets had to go somewhere. The hunt was officially on.

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a place on Gottingen, a place where they sell old arcade machines. Or at least they did two years ago, when I was last there. It's a used furniture store (read: front for selling black-market organs) and part of its sign has a STOP sign in it. That's all the information I have short of you and I booking a Saturday together and taking a delightful antiquing excursion in Halifax's north end. I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches.